Veendam Day 4 - Belize

We got up for an early breakfast on day 4, and then headed out to Belize City. We "tendered" to shore, which is the nautical way of saying we had to take a boat rather than docking directly.

Tendered to Shore

Tendering to Shore (movie)

Arriving in Belize

Belize City by the Docks

We got on a bus for the hour-long ride to the area where the caves are. We drove west through half of the country to get there (Belize is about the size of Massachusetts) and arrived for our hike and tubing experience.

New York???

INSERT WATER CAMERA PICTURES HERE

On the way back, the bus had electrical problems and broke down, depositing us in a strip of a town named "Franks Eddy". We got the chance to wander around, looking at the only slightly curious locals.

Electrical Problems

In the Countryside

Mayan-Style Grass Hut

A Local

Hibiscus

Hibiscus (2)

It's interesting to see what 3rd-world power is like. Here is the power distribution center for a collection of 6 houses. It's what would be attached to one house in the U.S., connected to a couple of power strips. From there, really long extension cords reach to each house, as in the picture below this.

High-Tech Power

Extension Cord to the House

We walked a couple blocks down to the elementary school, which was in session, to talk to the kids. They all speak English in school (and quite well), although they speak Spanish when they go home in the afternoon. Here there are no uniforms, although unless you're too poor to buy one, you're required to have one if you go to school in the main city.

Children in Belize seem to learn pretty much the same things we do -- Science, Math, Social Studies, English, and so on. They are required by law to go to school from the ages of 5 to 14. Most that go on to university usually do so through some form of scholarship that has them go to another country (like the U.S.) to study, and then come back and teach what they've learned.

Elementary School

Inside the School

Learning Grammar

Finally, a replacement bus showed up and we moved on to lunch. We went to a place called "JB's" that served us a local Creole dish. Now, these aren't the same Creole that are in New Orleans, it turns out that the origin of the word only relates to when white slave-owners had children with their African slaves. Here Creole (the language) is a broken form of English interspersed with words based on the African languages of the slaves, rather than broken French mixed with African languages.

Lunch at JB's (Creole)

Beautiful Countryside

Fan Palms

Mayan Art at JB's

Palm-Roofed Hut

Miracle Tree

Veendam Day 4 - Belize

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